


no, i don't have a crush on you

by Recurring



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: My Unit is not Byleth, Tumblr Prompt, get ready for...Sweetpea Eisner, masc!byleth (they/them), my love of dialogue is unending, professor this is a christian school, the dancer outfit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29450466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Recurring/pseuds/Recurring
Summary: Seteth thinks the new Professor is trying to make his life difficult.based onthis prompt:"“No, I don’t have a crush on you!”“Well, I wouldn’t blame you.”"and the fact that i always put m!byleth in the dancer outfit
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth & Seteth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	no, i don't have a crush on you

"We need to talk," Seteth said, through his teeth, "about your _attire_."

"What do you mean?" the Professor-- _Sweetpea_ _\--_ asked, completely flat, so much so that Seteth knew he was being mocked."Is there a problem with it?"

There was something almost akin to shock on Professor Sweetpea's face--a slight widening of their eyes.Seteth pinched at the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, there is, in fact.You are dressed," he grit out, "in the attire traditionally worn by _dancers_ , not clothing fitting of a professor at the Officer's Academy of Garreg Mach."

"Pardon me," Sweetpea said, their posture strangely upright and proper, a complete contrast to the loose silks and tinkling charms of their outfit, "but I don't understand what could be wrong with it."

So, they were going to make this difficult.It had been hard enough to accept that Jeralt had named his child _Sweetpea_ of all things, apparently having been so besotted with the baby that he'd insisted upon it.Seteth had thought it a joke, at first.Harder still to accept was the fact that Rhea insisted on hiring this--this completely unknown mercenary as a professor.And then there was the fact that they seemed to have no memory of anything related to the Church, or the continent.Seteth still wasn't certain whether Sweetpea knew their own age.

It all seemed like a very intricate farce.

"There is nothing wrong with the outfit itself," Seteth tried to explain, "merely that, in the context of a school environment, it might be more appropriate to wear something less--" he couldn't think of any other word, as he looked down and saw that Sweetpea's thigh was completely visible through a slit in the skirt of the outfit "--revealing."

Sweetpea stared at him for a long while."Some of these students are learning to be healers."

"Your point being?" Seteth asked.

"Must I have a point?" Sweetpea asked. 

"Ye--no, but _my_ point is that you are free to wear what you like, of course.After hours.But as a teacher--"

Sweetpea had brought their hands to their lap and was fidgeting with their sash.Something about the gesture looked so _helpless_.Seteth recalled, very suddenly, overhearing two of the students debating whether or not the Professor even knew how to read.He'd dismissed it, of course.Now he was rethinking it all.

"As a teacher you want to look respectable.The students need to be able to focus, and it is our responsibility to make sure that it is as easy for them to do as possible," Seteth finished.There.That had been a decent way to explain. 

"Has my outfit been distracting to the students?" Sweetpea asked.

"Students, knights, gatekeepers, faculty," Seteth listed.He reached for his quill, remembering that he needed a word with Catherine about her assisting Professor Sweetpea's class with this month's mission."Everyone has noticed."

"Oh."Sweetpea paused, and while it was for the space of a breath, they didn't seem to inhale."Which are you?"

Seteth's hand tightened around his quill, nearly snapping it. 

Before he could respond, Sweetpea said, "My students seem focussed on their studies."

Seteth laid down his crushed quill.He placed the palms of both hands together.He could not bring up Sweetpea's inexperience as a teacher.He could not bring up Sweetpea's inexperience as a teacher.

"Does that mean that you are the one distracted?" Sweetpea asked."Father mentioned something about this.He said," Sweetpea frowned somewhat."It is called a 'crush', I believe.You...have a crush on me?You are trying to get me...out of my skirt?"

"No, I don't have a crush on you!" Seteth couldn't keep from raising his voice.He _knew_ that Sweetpea was playing some game.It was funny to them, to appear ignorant, and use it to embarrass other people, to confuse them--

"Well," Sweetpea said, "I wouldn't blame you."

Seteth's mouth dropped open.

"I feel this outfit lets me seem approachable," Sweetpea added, and Seteth might have said it was the first time they'd seemed serious, except for the fact that they always did."I have always struggled with that.But the students have started to come to me with their problems.And they have been preparing well for this month's assignment and I feel as a teacher that this is the best way to proceed.My goal is not to be distracting."

"I--see," Seteth said, almost understanding Sweetpea's logic. 

"I am supposed to care about the students and what they think of me," Sweetpea stated.

"Yes," Seteth said."I would appreciate that."

Sweetpea nodded."Are you going to make me wear something else?" they asked.

"I cannot make you do anything," Seteth ground out."I am sorry for taking your time."At least he knew that the Professor was trying to care about their students.He had been under the impression that Sweetpea had only chosen to dress like a dancer in order to shock the entire Monastery--but it seemed not to be the case.They really did think this made them seem approachable.Well, in a way--he reached for his quill again.

"It was no trouble.And I am...glad.To know how you feel," Sweetpea said, standing up.Their bulky shoulder and entire collarbone dipped into Seteth's view.

The quill in his hand snapped."Very well," Seteth said, looking away."That is all, Professor."

"Thank you," Sweetpea said, and left in a rustle of sheer fabric and a clinking of metal charms.Seteth did not watch them go, unable to face the mortifying idea that he might, indeed, find the baffling new Professor attractive in any capacity.

He needed a new quill.Seteth opened his drawer and rummaged for one, dipping it into his inkwell.He pressed the tip against a new page just as he heard what was becoming a familiar twinkling.

"Excuse me, but which way are the stairs?This is the first time I've been up here," Sweetpea said from the doorway.

Seteth's quill scratched a painful zigzag across the page."What?"

"I ended up in this room with a bunch of books?All I want is the stairs," Sweetpea said, a little desperate.

Seteth used his already-frayed quill to point which direction the Professor should have turned from his office.

"I will make sure you don't die in the upcoming war," Sweetpea said, in apparent relief, and turned around in a swirl of silk.

"You're welcome," Seteth said, reaching for a new sheet of paper.

He settled down to write.

"You will--the _what?_ "


End file.
